What's For Dinner This Christmas?

 I'm excited to make strufolli for the first time this Christmas.   

I'm doing Giada's recipe from familycircle.com. 

This is a common holiday dessert in Naples and Italy and can be prepared a day or two ahead of the party that's why it's convenient.   I'm sure this will add a festive touch to my Christmas table. 

Christmas should be the happiest time of the year but we homemakers are often anxious about Christmas dinner.  This feat can be overwhelming sometimes, yet we are determined to make it great. 

There is no reason to fret because there are lots of ideas going around.  On tv alone, celebrity chefs are sharing their ideas, claiming that they are all super easy; it's just searing the meat with herbs and spices, popped in the oven, forget about it until the oven dings.  

Supermarkets and bakeshops offer lots of endless delicacies to enhance our spread.  There are also plenty of delicious pre-prepared dishes for sale at delis and restaurants that we can easily put together a sumptuous meal and spare us the trouble if we don't have much time.  But if we want something different we can always Google for more ideas. 

Early on I felt I needed to gather more inspiration for my Christmas feast, so I spent sometime watching the Food Network, the Asian Food Channel and Lifestyle Network;  I've read holiday blogs, surfed the net and actually tried the recipes that I found interesting.  

I realized that too much information is not always good; at least to me. The idea of preparing what my family really want eludes me.  However, just like shopping for the right shoes or dress, when I see it, I know that's the one; the idea for my Christmas dinner dawned on to me just like that. 

I aim to make it like a home-cooked meal yet festive at the same time.  It should be special but simple, sans the fancy; light but nutritious because most of us are so health conscious nowadays.  Most of all, it should be something that everyone would enjoy. 

I wanted to depart from the traditional Filipino dishes like caldereta, afritada, menudo, mechado, adobo or at least put a twist on one of them to make it sound new and interesting. 

So this Christmas, I think I'll work with lamb and the other dish could be salmon.  I will cook the lamb like a traditional stew and make a complimentary side dish, I'm still debating whether it will be mashed potatoes or au gratin.  

One good tip I learned is stick to tried and tested dishes at times like this to lessen stress.  I'm not into roasting so much, so I won't roast.  

The salmon will be light and refreshing baked on top of fettuccine and asparagus that will blend with fresh herbs and lemon to counteract the heaviness of the lamb.  Since lamb is not everybody's favorite, I'll sneak in a dish of Osso buco to make everybody happy. 

I will include the Celebration Chicken Salad because I want crunch with apple, celery stalk, cucumber, red radish, almonds and walnuts.  

Did you know that this was first prepared and served at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II by two chefs at the Le Cordon Bleu in London?  The addition of curry and tumeric was borrowed from India due to their significant presence in the UK.  Isn't it interesting to know this bit of history? 

Dessert maybe fruit salad and hopefully I can squeeze sometime to make Angel food cake or bread pudding. 

Of course I will bring out the queso de bola and Chinese ham which is everybody's favorite. 

I don't believe in an over-flowing Christmas table so I limit my preparations but ample enough for everybody; I don't want to handle a lot of leftovers.  Do you think my menu is good enough and fitting for a holiday feast?